The Wart on the Wire (1917)

movie

Country: USA
Genres: Comedy, Short
Release: 1917-10-08
Director: Allen Curtis
Writers: Tom Gibson , C.B. Hoadley
Language: None | English
Stars: Billy Franey , Gale Henry , Milburn Morante , Charles Haefeli , Milton Sills , John Cook
Runtime: min
Awards: N/A
AKA: The Wart on the Wire , The Wart on the Wire (United States of America)
Plot: Polly Piffle is sole owner and manager of the "Piffle Pickle Works," a concern which has made a lot of money out of the wart-less pickle. She receives a message which threatens her life if she does not divulge the secret of her wart remover. It is signed, "The Wart." Polly, frightened, calls up John Shirtless, a famous criminologist, her fiancée, and tells him of the mysterious message. In his den sits Doctor Rainhole. Though apparently a physician of not more than ordinary unintelligence, the Doctor, in reality, is a Man of Mystery. He is the inventor of the famous Wart Remover. It will remove warts from anything on earth, pickles included: and having seen the ads of the Piffle Pickle Works, he feels certain that his formula has been stolen. The Doctor is a person of ordinary appearance, except that one foot is much larger than the other. He calls his faithful henchmen. They, also, each have one foot larger that the other. By means of his wonderful psychic power, he can dematerialize his body all except the odd-sized foot, which is the only part of him that remains visible. John Shirtless enter the Works, and trips over a human foot, as he does so. His great brain is occupied with the problem, and he thinks nothing of such a trifle as a detached foot. As soon as he leaves, the crooks enter the Pickle Works, and make the men prisoners. They torture from them the information that it is Polly who owns the secret formula. Polly hears them coming, and just manages to gasp "The Wart" over the wire to John before she is snatched away. The detective answers the phone and by means of a simple attachment which he has invented he sees the entire occurrence at the factory. He sets out at once taking with him another little invention, the Magnetic Materialization Machine, with which to draw the recipe to him. First, he turns it on the "Wart," who cannot resist, and is drawn into view, proving to be none other, when materialized, than Doctor Rainhole. The gangster and the doctor are turned over to the police.Moving Picture World, October 13, 1917
IMDB:tt0331705